After a week of rest and teachings at debrief in Nelspruit, South Africa, my team made it to our ministry site in South Africa on January 13. We have been living in Heidelberg, a small town located in the mountains of South Africa about 30 minutes from the coast. We are living and working with our hosts, Phil and Tanya, who are the pastors and founders of a local church, school, and Bible college. The church and Bible college members are some of the most welcoming, hospitable people I have ever met, and we frequently find ourselves making memories with them doing things like rope swinging into lakes, milking cows, and having bonfires.
Ministry here has been very diverse and I have done everything from helping teach at the school to outreach in the poor part of Heidelberg to running a high school assembly to hanging out with the employees at Wimpy, a local fast food restaurant, at three in the morning. One of my favorite moments so far happened during a day of outreach spent with the Bible college students. Kendall, Alina, and I along with Peter, our friend from Heidelberg, spent the morning doing house visits. On our way to the first house of the day Peter told us that he had seen a vision of a man who was having trouble walking, and we were supposed to pray for him. After two house visits we were walking down the street as some people yelled for us and invited us into their house. As we walked into their house we noticed there was a man in there who was sitting in a wheelchair. We talked to them for a while and told them a couple of Bible stories, and as we were about to leave, Alina asked about the man in the wheelchair. Peter told the man that he was going to pray over him, and after, he needed to get up and try to walk. So he prayed over him and then helped him up. He was able to stand but he couldn’t take any steps. So Peter prayed for him again and then helped him up and he was able to take a few steps. So a third time he prayed for the man and the man said it felt like life began flowing through his legs. Then he stood up one more time and was able to take even more steps with the help of Peter. That morning I had written a prayer in my journal asking God to show me a miracle that day, and it was so encouraging to see God answer my prayer and begin to heal this man who had not been able to walk for several years.
After one month of ministry in South Africa, my whole squad made an unexpected trip to Swaziland for four days in order to renew our visas which were about to expire. My first couple of days in Swaziland were mostly spent playing with kiddos who went to school at the AIM base we were staying at and catching up with what God has been doing in the lives of my squad- mates. Our last day in Swaziland was spent having church as a squad and celebrating the first rain in six weeks by having a mud fight. After our weekend away, we were successfully able to get our visas renewed and make our way back to Heidelberg, where we are now finishing up our final two weeks of ministry before we head to the Philippines.
